I wanted to be a better HR Manager: NLP helps people in their career & business!

When I first discovered NLP, I was exploring NLP for business. I'd been in my HR career for a number of years. As an HR manager, I was looking for tools, I was looking for techniques. I wanted different options to be able to help me be a better HR manager, that's what exploring NLP was all about.

I spent a lot of my time coaching line managers, guiding line managers, working with senior leaders in organizations talking about how they could get the best out of their people and how to maximize that.

I chose NLP knowing that other people that I knew had done NLP. They'd talked about the amazing results that it delivered for them personally and also in their business. At the time I wasn’t really that concerned about myself to be honest. I booked because I wanted to help others, and it wasn't until I was on the course, and those of you that have followed my story will know that I actually had anxiety and depression at the time I went on the course. I didn't book it to fix that. I booked it to be a better HR manager and a better coach. And by default, I ended up changing myself.

As I was on the NLP Practitioner course, which is seven days long I was amazed, I was surrounded by other business people, people that were directors, heads of function, managers, people that ran their own businesses even nurses. I was listening to how people were changing, bear in mind, I already had an inkling into what NLP was capable of because I'd heard other people share stories, like the head of training where I worked at the time, she was a master practitioner of NLP. However, what actually happened was NLP not only changed the way that I thought and the way that I felt, but it also enabled me to help others. So how?

How NLP helped me as an HR Manager...

How did it help me as an HR manager when I was in the role? Anyone in any kind of managerial role or professional role of any description will know that people come to you for advice and you've got to be able to be confident, you've got to know your stuff, you've got to be technically competent at what you do. And I found that in my role in HR, I spent a lot of time trying to influence other people to do things. And I really struggled to do that. Everybody said, "Oh Laura, you need to be more influential." And I was like, "Yeah, well is someone actually going to help me do that? How do you do that?" And they were like, "Go on an influencing course, Laura." And so I went on an influencing course and came back none the wiser. I was struggling to influence people effectively, I was absolutely petrified of doing presentations. People would say, "Oh but Laura, you were so confident." Yeah, I got really good at putting a mask on just like some of you probably do as well. To the outside world, Laura had her stuff together, but inside, there's a little girl that was terrified.

Imposter Syndrome at it's best....

I would worry, what if they ask me questions that I can't answer? And who am I to be sat here around the senior management table guiding a business? And much more. This was the internal mind chatter going through my head at the time. I suffered really badly with something called "imposter syndrome", If you've ever suffered from it, you'll know what it's like. It's that fear of being found out. And I thought, "Oh, someone's going to find out at some point that I really don't know what I'm doing." These were the type of thoughts that used to go through my head.

Presenting confidently, not a nervous feeling in sight!

Post NLP training, I was able to start presenting, with confidence and I felt excited. Many people say a presenter who tells you that they don't get nervous, are lying. What absolute rubbish. I can say this because I don't get nervous at all when I present because I love presenting, I love training, I love being in front of an audience. Before NLP I'd do ten trips to the toilet before I started with nerves, now I can't wait to get started. I can't wait to share what I've got to say and to help people. And I do not feel an ounce of nervousness.

People ask "How is that possible?" Well, NLP helps you change the way that you think. It helped me change the way I thought. We run ten to twenty thousand programs every single day unconsciously. You won't be aware of them all.

We are habitual creatures, we run our life on habits. And the problem is a lot of those habits and programs don't serve us. And don't get me wrong, there are thousands of them that do. Like your brushing your teeth strategy, it probably doesn't adversely affect you in terms of your output results and your life. But if you've got a strategy that runs that's not great around presentations, professionally that's going to cause you a problem.

Benefits of the NLP training...

I did my NLP training, and I learned how to present, I learned how to stand, I learned how to structure a presentation, I learned how to be confident, I learned lots of skills and all of a sudden, I was like, "I get it!"

I describe NLP to people as the "how of how we do stuff". I learned how to build rapport properly, I learned the six levers that we all unconsciously pull every single time we meet someone. I also started to be more influential, because I knew how to! Those people that we find difficult to communicate with, they are the ones that are the hardest to influence. There were some people I worked with professionally that I couldn't wait to get out of the room, and they were the hardest to influence. What we don't get taught is the reason that they are hard to influence, the reason they are hard to communicate with is that unconsciously, you break rapport with them because you don't like them, so you don't want to be like them, and so you break rapport unconsciously. And of course, that makes your communication really tough. And so I learned how to build rapport consciously with the people where I needed to put that effort into it and hey, presto, my messages started to land properly. And it was amazing.

I remember learning something called "meta programs". Meta programs are filters of the unconscious mind, the path that determines personality. Carl Jung or Meyers-Briggs studied the traits of personality, meta programs comes from the same work. And in NLP, we have 22 meta programs. Meyers-Briggs only has four. All of a sudden, I learned how people thought. And therefore I could be much better at how I influence them, how I coach them, how I led them, how I managed them. And I thought, "why did someone not show this to me sooner?" I could have saved myself an awful lot of sleepless nights. 

From one 7 day NLP Practitioner course, my presentation skills rocketed, my ability to influence became undeniable, my ability to communicate with people that I perceived to be difficult became easy. I was an excellent coach. I learned beneficial questioning techniques and ways to structure results-driven questions, the list of tools and techniques that professionally that helped me was huge.

NLP truly changed my life for the better, it could do the same for you?

I know exactly how to use this toolkit in business to get you much better results in your role, in your career, and your business. Depending on whether you're leading a business or running your own business or whether you're an employee in an organization. So if you're on the fence going, "Is NLP for me?" drop me a message and we can chat, it’s the best 7 days I ever spent! 

Laura Evans Director & Lead Trainer of Unleash Your Potential - The NLP Training company helping you to change your thinking, change your results! For more information visit www.unleashyourpotential.org.uk or Call 02920023311